Stewart: Shakespeare Yes-Reality TV No

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Patrick Stewart is no fan of reality shows.

Stewart made his views on the popular television shows known while with the Television Critics Association tour to promote several of his upcoming projects, Macbeth and Hamlet, that will air on the PBS series Great Performances.

“There are aspects of popular contemporary entertainment, and I’m thinking here particularly of the huge influx of reality shows, that I find deeply dismaying and discouraging,” said the former Captain Picard. “In fact, watching one on BBC, BBC? Yes. I watched about twenty-five minutes of it, and I was alone, and I thought to myself, ‘This would be a really good time to die…because I wouldn’t mind leaving this world right at this moment while I’m watching this particular reality show.'”

To add insult to injury, the show was “the highest-rated show on British television,” said Stewart. “So I struggle with that a bit, yeah.”

Stewart wouldn’t give the name of the show. “Yes, of course, I’m going to tell you that,” he said sarcastically. “I have to go back to England next week.”